This year, I wanted to make at least one gift for everyone. I looked all over the Internet for something that I thought everyone would like. I finally came across this on Martha Stewart’s site and knew that everyone would like it. I sat down and made a few of them the other day and they where not too bad to make, only a bit time consuming. These will be an instant success for anyone who will be receiving them.

Materials Needed:

• Jade beads dyed in various colors, 16 mm
  
• Griffin silk beading cord, size 8, in gray, yellow, turquoise, and coral
  
• Silk-satin ribbon, 15 mm, in Charcoal, Avocado, Grey, and Copen

Instructions:

1. Cut two 1-yard lengths of ribbon. Unwind the silk cord fully from its spool. Thread 1 bead onto cord, sliding it down and leaving a 5-inch tail.
2. To attach the ribbon: Holding bead on tail, use cord to tie a secure double knot at midpoint of 1 ribbon. Secure bead: Pull needle back through bead.
3. Knot tail and needle ends together next to bead.
4. Trim tail. Thread second bead; knot cord next to bead. Repeat to add remaining beads. After last knot, use cord to tie a secure double knot at midpoint of second ribbon. Pull needle back through last bead, and tie a knot around existing cord; trim end.

Jewelry is a great accessory that anyone can wear. Some of the best made jewelry is that jewelry that is homemade. One great piece of jewelry are bangles. These are easy to make on your own and one way to make them is by using wool to wrap around different things. When I did this craft I used mailing tubes to wrap my wool around.

Materials Needed:

Scissors
Clothespin
Plain plastic bangle bracelets or Mailing tubes
Yarn or ribbon
Fabric glue

Instructions:

1. Create a ball of yarn slightly larger than a golf ball.

2. Densely wrap the yarn around a plastic bangle bracelet, making sure to neatly keep the yarn aligned, and pulling tightly as you go.
Tip: Work over a table or in lap in case the ball slips out of your hands.

3. Finish by overlapping a few wraps at the point where you started. Glue the strand of yarn in place along the inside of the bracelet with a fabric glue.

4. Hold the glued end of yarn in place with a clothespin and allow to dry. Once the glue has fully dried, snip off the extra yarn.

5. Bangles can be covered in thin decorative ribbon using the same process.

Since we are all crafters, (or we wouldn’t be looking at Craft Tutorials) I just wanted to share this great new craft table we have started to carry. Usually I just post fun crafts that I have done or come across but I love to scrapbook and this table makes it so easy. How many times do you want to start a scrapbook project or any project for that matter and know you won’t finish so you don’t start because you will have stuff all over the kitchen table until you get your project done? Well this is the greatest table, it has compartments in it and a thing that closes over the top of the compartments so when you put your supplies into the compartments and close the lid, it fits down into the compartment and holds everything into place, then just fold up the table and put it aside, when you come back to work on your project again, everything is exactly where you left it. This is just such a cool table I had to share.

Really Cool craft table

Thanks for letting me share – Mothers day is coming

Betty

http://www.chandlercreations.com/page/629006

I found this old picture frame with a picture of the ocean in the back ground and really liked the frame but didn’t really want the scenery so I got it and thought some day I would find a good use for it. Well the day came when I saw some thin wood letters at the craft store and decided to make a collage of sorts, so I designed them to look like scrapbook pages but spell out the word love. I painted the frame and ran an ink stamp pad across the edges for a little more depth. Then just embellished each section of the frame.

If nothing else, my granddaughter loves it, so guess who will be getting this picture frame?

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If you are a crafter, scrapbooker, jewelry designer check out our craft and scrapbook furniture!

ChandlerCreations

Last Spring I wrote up a tutorial for a wrapped wire ring and recently got an e-mail from a reader who used it to great effect! wheeee. So I thought I’d share it with you

I love the bridge troll from the second Spiderwick book: The Seeing Stone, it totally reminded me of the crazy swamp witch from Legend. 

So, I got to thinking about trolls and swamps and water – especially with all the amazingly crappy, rainy, wet weather we have been having over the last week and all the swampy floodedness of everything around us right now and I decided it needed to be expressed in jewelry.

Behold the River Troll Ring.

If you’d like to make our own here’s a quick tutorial

1. Decide on wire and beads you want to use. (I used a very fine wire from an old Klutz kit and a pile of different beads from my collection) Make sure your beads will glide easily along the wire’s  length. You may end up with some very small kinks in the wire and you don’t want your beads getting stuck. Try to stick with E-beads and larger stones, seed beads are just too small. Use a ring sizer to determine the size you want (try to find a solid surface to wrap your wire around, spoon handle, pen, marker – I have an old bead tube that worked for me) and remember to go up half a size from what you want it to be, wrapping the wire and the beads you use will take up some space. Cut a 2 yard piece of wire and beginning in the center wrap the wire 2-5 times with each piece, meeting back at the point where you started (the number of wraps determines how substantial your band will be). Use the tails to wrap the band together at the base, moving in opposite directions, then divide the band into 2 equal halves.

2. Now, starting on either side, you place the beads that run along the side of your ring one at a time. Wrap your wire tail 3 times around one side of the ring, thread on your first bead and then wrap the wire 3 times on the opposite side of the ring. Repeat 2 to 3 times more depending on the size and number of beads you have chosen and repeat on the other side.

3. Work your center bead separate from the ring, using A new piece of wire about a yard in length. You may choose to use one stone or many, the important thing to have is a sturdy but slightly loose ring of wire all the way around the bead. Add whatever embellishments you want and bury the end of the wire inside a bead or in a wrap.

4. Attach your center piece to the ring using the tails left from wrapping your side beads. Make sure you thread the wire underneath and through the wire around the center bead and along the two sides of the band. When it feels secure bury the wire ends. Voila!

If you make one send pics!! And feel free to ask questions. I do it a little different every time and you may find a way that works better for you. I have more pics on Flickr.

Toots